Patience in Islam - Dr. Bilal Philips

[Music] uh [Music] all praise is due to allah and may allah's peace and blessings be on the last prophet muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam and then all those who follow the path of righteousness until the last day the topic of this afternoon presentation is that of patience from the islamic perspective what is the islamic perspective on patience and why do we even focus on this as a as a lecture or the basis of a lecture why would we focus on this it is mainly because allah subhanahu ta'ala has stressed patience in so many verses of the quran where allah tells us when you are facing difficulties anything in life we should rely on sober patience and salah and allah has also told us in the quran where allah where allah stressed what we will face in this life in surah al-baqarah he said well that i will test you i will try you with fear hunger loss of wealth loss of life and loss of the fruits of the your labor but give glad tidings to those who are patient and he goes on to say allah those who when a trial befalls them [Music] they say we belong to allah and to him we must return now this phrase is something we know it's said when somebody dies this is when we hear it as soon as you hear somebody say that you say who died is what you ask but allah didn't say in the quran when people die that's when you say it yes when somebody dies that is a trial that is a test so it is among the times to say it but it is on any occasion that there is a loss as allah mentioned even loss of wealth somebody stole your money rather than curse that individual i mean this is our normal reaction somebody steals your money you start cursing you know may allah you know destroy you destroy your family your home whatever this is how we tend to react but allah tells us no no this is the time to say so allah has put patience in this special category saying in conclusion that those when he said fabashir is sabrina bashir meaning good give glad tidings or good news to those who are patient what is that glad tiding and good news it's jenna that the reward for patience ultimately is jannah and prophet muhammad sallallahu sallam himself he said no one has been given a better and more extensive gift than patience so obviously it is something which is held in high esteems held as praiseworthy important in a muslim's life patience the opposite of patience in arabic it's called chakra complaint but that complaint could be to allah or complain to people now complaint to allah this is what is required of us as prophet yakub said when he heard about the bad news concerning yusuf his son i only complain of my distressful and saddening situation to allah he's the one to whom i complain that form of complaint is a bada so that that does not contradict patience in fact it is an expression of patience that rather than allow this trial that i'm faced with to destroy me to cause me to do what is displeasing to allah i will just take my sadness my suffering to him because he is the only one ultimately that can relieve me of that suffering so patience is not contradicted by complaint to allah it is enhanced by complaint to allah the other form of complaint where we complain to people that's the one that contradicts patience where whenever we suffer anything we're complaining up to those around us so and so did this that happened to me why was this this complaining nature that we as human beings tend to exhibit in most times of trial to complain to those around us those who can do nothing if there's a difference between complaining to someone to fix something [Music] and complaining seeking their sympathy see this is the negative one where we're looking for sympathy from the people around us or we're trying to turn those people around us against someone else because we have suffered something from them this is when it becomes negative it becomes evil but if we raise our issues to those in authority who can correct it then this is legitimate this is reasonable it's not a must we have the option to just accept the trial and carry on or to try to do something about it that is permissible and it doesn't contradict patience because it is our right to get what is due to us that is our right now patience is needed first and foremost in worshiping allah patience and worshiping allah [Music] one might question is worshipping allah a calamity that we need patience to deal with it no but it is something we are required to do and if we don't have the right attitude towards it then we treat it like a calamity something we wish would go away [Music] in order to be patient while worshiping allah first and foremost we need to worship him regularly to be regular in our prayers praying on time not praying some days most of our prayers at night have some people who save up all their daily prayers and pray all five of them at night before they go to bed they say okay i have five to do let me do these five that's a person who has no patience or you pray two three prayers today tomorrow you might pray one prayer the day after you might pray for irregular this is not the worship which was prescribed by allah when allah told us established the prayer for my remembrance he spoke about regular prayer not whenever we feel like it [Music] regular prayer in order that we would remember allah see if we are irregular in our prayer then it means sometimes we'll remember a lot sometimes we won't remember allah and the goal is that we should be constantly throughout our lives remembering allah being conscious of allah in whatever we do or say the second principle that needs to be there for us to be patient in worshiping allah is that we do it sincerely that the worship is sincere if it's insincere then it is for other than allah we're worshiping because our fathers say you better worship [Music] or your community says you should be worshipping so if we worship because of people then when people are not around we won't worship it's as simple as that we'll worship sometimes we won't worship other times we cannot be regular in our prayer if we're worshiping for people we'll end up missing prayers etc because it's not sincere [Music] and allah has told us that the sincerity is the essence of true worship we're only commanded to worship allah making the religion sincere for him that is real worship if sincerity is not there then it's not real worship it's ritual it's custom it's tradition but it's not worship [Music] now worship can be a part of ritual custom and tradition but ritual custom and tradition which is not sincere is no longer worshipped it's no longer worship we might think it's worship because that's what our parents did that's what our relatives do that's what everybody else around us do they do worship as a ritual and a tradition but you must know that that kind of worship is not acceptable to allah it is not true worship there must be sincerity that we are truly doing it for the sake of allah for allah's pleasure because we know that it will be the first thing that will be asked about on the day of judgment we know that it will make the difference between heaven and hell we know that it will instill in us a consciousness of allah and as a result of it we will be better people we will do the right thing when the right thing is needed thirdly patience is needed in worshiping allah with knowledge [Music] if we don't worship allah with knowledge then we can end up worshiping his creatures [Music] what happened to christianity and christians without knowledge they became a door loon and we seek refuge from being in their state with each one of our prayers the prophet sallam explained that adolin are those who follow what we know of as christianity today they worship prophet asa jesus as god [Music] and that is based on lack of knowledge if they sought out the knowledge properly with an open heart etc allah would show them that this belief this understanding is false it is the opposite of what prophet isa called them to prophet jesus himself worshiped allah so the first question you should ask your quest your christian friends if you manage to get into some discussion about religion with them and you should discuss with them the first question that you should ask them was who was jesus worshiping maybe you might want to ask them before that in case there is a doubt in their mind did jesus worship [Music] and they know he did but maybe some of them don't know but it is there in the gospels in the garden of gethsemane jesus fell down on his face making sujud and prayed to god they know this most of them so after they've said okay yes yes he did pray so then you ask him because they say he is god right you you say to them well you do believe that jesus is god right because there are some christians who don't very few they are considered to be deviants you know people like the jehovah's witness the mormons seventh-day adventists these three groups they don't believe that but they are not considered to be christians by the main body of christians so you ask them you do believe jesus is god right that's your belief they say yeah okay jesus was god god the son says okay so if jesus is god who was he worshiping this is the big question they say worshiping god the father but you said god the father is god the son because remember it's three gods in one right god the father god the son god the holy spirit or the holy ghost three gods in one so they say three gods in one so how can the son who is the father worship himself this is nonsense confusion this is not religion this is confusion [Music] so how did that come about it came about from a lack of knowledge [Music] a lack of knowledge false knowledge presented to them they didn't have true knowledge so they ended up worshiping god as a man and they are not the only ones there are others who have done the same in other parts of the world and i was shocked personally when i visited dakar senegal during the political crisis i visited the car when i was there and i was traveling around with some of my senegalese friends who were taking me around the city showing me different things they showed me a poster of an individual that said you know this man people believe he is god and they worship him as god so we actually have muslims who have reached that state of ignorance that they would worship a man as god that's the first time i came across that the hindus of course they they have that they have what are known as the avatars you heard of avatar avatar means god incarnate sai baba from south india he had 8 million followers believing that he was god so this happens of course they have god as a cow you know they have an elephant head god ganesh they have the monkey god hanuman that's where they have all kinds of things but this is what happens when you don't have knowledge of who god is then you can end up worshiping the wrong god so for you to be patient in your worship you must have knowledge knowledge has to be there also patience is needed in abstaining from wrong actions from doing haram what is forbidden that also requires patience [Music] that's why the prophet saws said no one was given a better and more vast gift from allah than patience [Music] now patience in in abstinence from wrong actions can be won because of fear of punishment people do it out of fear of punishment if you don't have a consciousness of allah then of course you're not going to fear punishment so you will do wrong actions you might not do it out of fear of punishment from the society but that of course is not considered to be patience [Music] that's just considered to be slyness your sly when the authorities are around you're a good guy when the authorities are not around you're a bad guy so that's not patience and that quality has become widespread in society so much so that it has become a work ethic the cat and mouse game when the boss is around you work hard everybody sees you working hard when the boss goes you lay back you relax no need to work hard anymore and as students of medicine of course the same challenge will be in front of you you can either be a dedicated doctor or nurse who does the best they can all the time as long as they're humanly able or you can be the one who does his best when he's dealing with a patient who is a big person but when he's dealing with a lowly patient a nobody then he just treats them neglectfully it doesn't give them proper checks etc it just looks at that makes a prescription okay go no test no nothing checking blood pressure or anything just like that this has to do with faith [Music] if we believe in allah then we will do our best at all times we understand that ultimately if we don't do our best we are cheating others and we will be punished for it so it's also fear of punishment but a fear of punishment which drives us to be good at all times because there's no time that allah is not present it's different with when you're dealing with your boss your supervisor your manager he's around sometime not around other times so you have room for the cat and the mouse when the cat is away the mice will play you have that but allah is never away so because of that consciousness fear of his punishment here is a good thing which causes us to abstain from wrong actions the other driving force for the believer is shyness or shame shyness knowing that this is displeasing to allah to do it knowing that it's displeasing to him we avoid it we feel shy just as in a sense you become shy when you're in front of your parents there's certain things you'll do when your parents are not around but if your parents are right in front of you watching you and you know they're watching you you'll be shy to do certain things we all experience that now that type of shyness is still the cat and mouse the one with the law shyness before allah this is the highest level of faith that we feel shy to abuse what allah has given us whether it's our eyesight our hearing our speech our ability to do what we do with our hands where our feet can take us all of this these are blessings from allah to abuse these blessings by using them in things which are displeasing to allah this is something we should feel shy to do and if we have that shyness that shame then it will make us better people in terms of patience at times of trial and this is the time when most people think in terms of patience when a trial has occurred as allah said i will try you with fear and hunger can be patient at that time if we think of the reward that allah has promised he promised paradise for best is sobering he promised paradise for those who are patient [Music] so by thinking of the good reward being conscious of paradise then inshallah it will give us patience in those times of trial and that's why it's very important whenever you're planning as you're planning your training you're studying here you have goals that you have set for yourself you want to end up a doctor or a nurse or whatever and being a doctor or nurse will enable you to provide for your family to build a family etc to have a good life for yourself you have that as a motivating uh force you look at your future so that keeps you connected and working to try to achieve it and truly if you don't have a goal then you're not going to get there it is important to have goals that you can plan for and work towards because as they say if you fail to plan you plan to fail so if you don't have a plan to achieve that goal you probably most likely will not reach that goal so it is important but then we as muslims have to know what in fact is our goal in life that goal ultimately should be for us as muslims paradise that should be our goal so if we keep paradise in mind whenever we're doing anything saying anything we ask ourselves is this going to help me get to paradise or is this going to stop me is this going to be a hurdle is it going to be a hindrance for me to get to paradise we judge things whether we do them or we don't do them according to that principle what is to come will we achieve that goal if we use that then inshallah it will help us to be patient in times of trial so we think about the reward to come the other thing to keep in mind with regards to patients in times of trial how to be patient is to think that whatever trial we are facing it will come to an end there is a time of ease which will come and allah promised it innama he told us with every difficulty comes a time of ease and he repeated it stressing for sure with every difficulty there will come ease so as long as we can keep that in mind then it will be easier for us to bear the trial that we're faced with at that moment in time and we should understand ultimately that patience in adversity and that's the time the time of trial and difficulty et cetera that's the one we're just talking about is easier than patience in the times of ease most people don't even think about patience in the times of ease we just think of patience in the time of adversity but prophet muhammed he told us that patience in the time of ease and in the time of adversity is what distinguishes the believer from the rest of creation which makes him or her unique [Music] and he said in a very famous hadith concerning this issue of patience in times of difficulty and ease the affair of the believer is amazing all of his or her affair is good if good comes to him or her they are thankful to allah and it's good for them that is patience in the times of ease they are thankful to allah they appreciate they are conscious of allah whether and if evil befalls him or her if bad times come sabor he is patient and it is good for him or this is the description that the prophet sallam gave of the true believer what makes him or her amazing times of ease he's he spoke about that first being grateful in times of ease as we said that is much more difficult than being patient in times of adversity and difficulty patience in the times of ease is most difficult because it is at this time we easily forget allah we're so happy we got what we wanted we got what we were striving for etc we got it we're so happy we're just delirious with happiness and we forget allah what did the prophet sallam do when that good came to him first thing he did was sujud he prostrated sujud ashukur that was his sunnah he always used to do this that is to keep us in the right frame of mind to remember to thank allah when that good comes so we need to bring that back into our lives i'm sure most of you don't do it right who amongst you made to do the sugar this last week put your hand up please one hand that tells us where we are this is reality this is something which is very important we need to bring it back into our lives to be on the correct path so this challenge is before us to be patient and one may ask but the prophet sallam said in the beginning that whoever has been given patience has been given this great good meaning they're naturally patient how many people do you know who are naturally patient very few and people might say but that's not fair at least that few got that patience you know why didn't we get it well the point is that when allah gives you something that other people don't have then he'll give you something which other people have you know he'll he'll put that as a trial for you but okay maybe you might be patient you have this patience but you know you are not um loving for example you're not a loving person but being a loving person is also a huge reward behind it as the prophet whoever is not merciful loving of people looking out for other people will not find mercy from allah so means it's very serious so though you have this patient thing which is beautiful wonderful you've got another child so allah is fair and the prophet saws he taught us how to be patient if we haven't like most people been given patience that is the last point inshallah we're ending the lecture he said very simple what does that mean it means that if you pretend to be patient you're not patient but you pretend to be patient you strive to be patient at least externally everybody sees you as patient even though inside yourself you're ready to explode some people might say that's hypocrisy no no this is the advice of the prophet saws you pretend to be patient eventually it will become natural in the beginning it was pretense but the more you do it the more the pretense goes and it becomes a natural way for you until it becomes your habit and everybody can do that so it is possible for everybody to attain it but we have to work for it we have to strive for it we have to gain it and as we said the reward is so great the ultimate reward is paradise none of us should consider this below us not worth making time and effort for we should know ultimately that this each and every believer every muslim must strive for must achieve because there is no way to paradise without it barakallahu [Music] 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Channel: Bilal Philips

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Keywords: digital minbar, islamiconline university, iou, islam way of life, bilal philips, personal development, patience in islam, patience, sabr

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Length: 43min 51sec (2631 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 08 2017